Reflecting on competencies, articulating transferable skills, and showcasing achievements

General Information Class: Hlth 480: Competencies in Health

Class size: 48

In this capstone course, PebblePad workbooks guided students through the reflective process to help them consider the competencies they had developed during their undergraduate program, and to help them identify and articulate to themselves and others the transferable skills they had developed. Their achievements were showcased in a portfolio that highlighted their development of core competencies within health sciences and public health.

The Competencies in Health course provided an opportunity to work as part of a team on a health design sprint in collaboration with a community partner to solve a real-world health challenge. Students completed a health design sprint with support from GreenHouse, a social innovation incubator housed at United College

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course students should be able to:

  • Articulate how concepts and foundational knowledge from core courses within the health sciences program relate to current issues and challenges in health.
  • Demonstrate achievements from course-work, or other experiential learning activities that are aligned with core competencies within the field of public health sciences.
  • Reflect on how learning experiences from their time as undergraduate students will inform their career planning and decision-making.
  • Integrate selected projects from their undergraduate studies into a reflective project that showcases and highlights core skills and competencies.
  • Communicate health information, in both oral and written forms and through a variety of media, to diverse audiences.

  • Demonstrate initiative, responsibility, and accountability both personally and in group contexts by working effectively with others on collaborative problem- solving.

  • Apply the fundamental concepts and features of project implementation, including planning, assessment, and evaluation.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT 

Component  

Value 

PebblePad Workbook Reflection Portfolio (curate best 5 reflections) 

15% 

Health Design Sprint  

30% 

Career ePortfolio Project  
 

45% 

Engagement  

10% 

Examples of student portfolios from the Hlth 480 class ( shared with students’ permission).  

Summary of Assessments that address the Learning outcomes  

PebblePad workbook Reflection Portfolio - 15% of grade, individual assessment 

  •  Each week you are asked to reflect on course content, an activity from class, or your participation in the design sprint process. For this assessment, you are asked to curate your best five reflections together for a Reflection Portfolio and provide a broad justification for how these reflections align with the rubric. The rubric assesses the level of clarity, the relevance of the learning experience, analysis of the experience and how it contributes to student learning, interconnections to past experiences/other courses/personal goals, and evidence of self-criticism such as awareness and knowledge of limits and new modes of thinking as a result.  
    Due Date: Dec 5 

Health Design Sprint Activity and Assessment - 30% of grade, mostly group assessment 

  • The Health Design Sprint is an activity that emphasizes social entrepreneurship and will take place during class time over the term in partnership with staff at Greenhouse (https://uwaterloo.ca/united-college/greenhouse) and participating organizations. Students will hear broad challenge statements from each participating community organization. After hearing from these organizations, students will rank their preferences to conceptualize a solution for the challenge statements with particular organizations. Groups will then be formed considering student preferences. 
    Groups will work together over the remainder of the term on this experiential Health Design Sprint that includes: 

    • Group Contract (group assessment 2%). The purpose of this activity is to describe how the group will work effectively together. Due date: October 20  

    • Participation in group work and collaboration with community partner (individual assessment 3%). This grade will be made up of a self-assessment, peer assessment of individual work (using PEAR), and instructor/TA assessment. PEAR assessment due date: Dec 1  

    • Problem brief and developing questions (i.e., interview guide) for community partner (group assessment – 10%). The problem brief has a template and the questions will be in the form of an interview guide. Due date: October 27  

    • Final Pitch to the community partner (group assessment 15%) during the last two weeks of the term (Nov 24 or Dec 1).

Career ePortfolio Project - 45% of grade, individual assessment 

  •  A Career Portfolio is a cumulative assignment for HLTH 480 that is meant to support you in your career journey. You will start the Career Portfolio by preparing the structure in PebblePad and add to it throughout the term with assignments that take place and are graded as the term progresses. You will also add examples that demonstrate your skills from other course assignments or experiences from your undergraduate program. Your Career Portfolio will contain the following elements: 

    •  PebblePad Structure for the entire Career Portfolio. (Soft Deadline: September 15) 

    • Homepage with a biography, overall philosophy/values statement and career goals, use of visuals, and other multi-media. (Soft Deadline: September 29)  

    • Linkage to LinkedIN profile– create a LinkedIN profile page or update it if you already have one set up; create two social media posts, link the LinkedIN profile to the Career Portfolio. (Soft Deadline: November 3) 

    • Alignment with competencies developed - Illustrate how course assignments and/or experiences from your undergraduate program have helped you to develop course competencies within the field of public health. One of the skills you must describe is public health communication. The other skill may be related to your career aspirations. (Soft Deadline: October 27)  

    • Reflection about Health Design Sprint - Include a reflection on the Health Design Sprint Process and the development of skills in communication, collaboration, leadership, problem-solving, and professionalism that are important for future careers. Include examples of artifacts from the group project such as questions for the interview guide and the pitch slides (Soft Deadline: December 1 for those who do pitches on November 24 and November 24th for those who do pitches on December

Engagement - 10% of grade, individual assessment 

  •  Your level of engagement will be assessed based on the following elements:  

    • In-class discussions with instructors and peers and participating in workshops from Greenhouse and the Centre for Career Development.

    • Online engagement - students are expected to complete weekly PebblePad workbook reflections by answering the prompts provided.

    • Peer evaluation and feedback on the ePortfolios. Due Date Nov 17  

    • Meetings with team members/instructors/community partners outside of normal class time.